If the Robert Saleh-led New York Jets deserved an F grade in the coaching department, then the Jeff Ulbrich-led squad reaches well below the F- level.
New York’s latest defeat—a familiar 19-9 contest against the Los Angeles Rams—featured all the earmarks of the Jets’ 2024 squad. Despite having quality talent up and down the depth chart, everything else repeatedly fails them.
Whether it’s leadership, organization, or a fundamental lack of understanding of the game’s feel or moment, the Jets organization routinely features the worst-coached team in the National Football League.
Before we officially begin the film review, let’s get one thing out of the way: Jeff Ulbrich is a tremendous football player and an even better person. I firmly believe he was immediately thrust into an impossible situation.
The Robert Saleh firing was the correct move—regarding the job he did in his three-plus seasons—but his replacement wasn’t the answer. Even when conceding that it’s been worse since the firing, the entire Jets coaching staff is still the Saleh-led bunch that hadn’t impressed anybody since 2001.
The only scenario that would have had me reassess my thoughts about Saleh is if Ulbrich had instantly turned the Jets in a positive direction. Ulbrich is Saleh, and the Jets coaching staff is Saleh’s several-year vision.
Having said that, let’s get into it.
The situation
While there’s plenty to criticize from the Jets’ latest loss, let’s focus on one late-game situation that had me losing my mind in the moment.
After a failed fourth-and-4 from their own 47-yard-line, the Jets defense trotted back onto the field down seven points with 8:27 remaining in the game.
First and foremost, there’s no question that this is a tough spot for the defense. In the second half, Aaron Rodgers and the offense repeatedly put the team in rough spots. The Rodgers fumble was the major turning point, while the Ulbrich fourth-down attempt in the first half gifted Sean McVay’s team the tying touchdown.
Both Rams touchdowns were scored on a short field. Yet, playing the “blame game” is for the fans, not for the team, and nothing but trouble comes when the players and coaches themselves partake in the blame game (shoutout to Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, and Demi Moore).
On first-and-10, Matthew Stafford hit Puka Nacua for a 27-yard gain that put the Rams in field goal range. At the 19-yard line, Los Angeles goes with a wham that springs Kyren Williams for 10 yards.
Fortunately for the Jets, the Rams were tagged for holding, so McVay’s team was pushed back to the 28-yard line for a first-and-19 situation.
After being gashed on a wham concept, D.J. Reed does an excellent job against Nacua on a wide receiver screen to help limit it to just a 1-yard gain. (I’ve said this in the past, so I’ll say it again: The Jets’ secondary is by far the best-coached position on the roster, and it’s been this way since Saleh arrived in 2021.)
On second-and-18, the Rams gash the Jets again, this time with a 9-yard run on a counter off the left side.
Even luckier for Ulbrich’s squad was the taunting penalty on Williams, which sent Los Angeles back again—this time to the 34-yard line for a third-and-25 situation.
So, despite giving up another big-moment rush, the Jets found themselves in a great situation to make a play. They find themselves down seven points, just one possession, with the opponent on fringe field-goal range on a bitterly cold and windy day.
How does Jeff Ulbrich handle the defensive strategy in this situation?
- LAR third-and-25 at the NYJ 34-yard line
- NYJ 9, LAR 16
- 6:07 remaining in the fourth quarter
The defensive play-call
It’s important to know the situation in full. Down just one possession, the Jets cannot give up any points. A Rams field goal would stretch the lead to 10 points, two possessions, which decreases the odds of winning dramatically.
Los Angeles’s kicker Joshua Karty is a rookie, and it is a rough-kicking day, but the kid has a mega-leg.
In my mind, something with in-your-face pressure was the only way to play this moment. Instead of the usual softness a third-and-25 situation demands, this down had to be treated like a third-and-5 passing rep in every way.
The Jets needed to either stop them cold or pick up a loss on the play.
Yet, Jeff Ulbrich and the Jets’ defense played the situation as if they were up seven points—in a way that a Rams field goal didn’t hurt them much.
Here’s what the Jets defense looked like pre-snap:
As seen above, this pre-snap look lacks aggression and mystery. Sure, under normal circumstances, this soft Cover 4 look would be the right move in a third-and-25 situation, but these aren’t normal circumstances.
This is a nut-crunching scenario that calls for the defense to make a play. For that to happen, the defensive play-caller has to first put his players in a position to signal all-out aggression and force.
Once the snap occurs, the Cover 4 pre-snap look does indeed result in soft quarters coverage.
Terrific technique from the outside corners on this play, as an outside shade in quarters, is the right call—especially when facing tighter splits from both No. 1 weapons out wide.
But sheesh, are we really playing things this softly in a spot where the defense needs a loss on the play?
The result
Two different parts of the play actually deserve praise.
Firstly, the coverage on the back end is solid enough. Although the Jets didn’t have to cover for a long enough time, the disciplined leverage was correct in that situation—when thinking about a quarters situation that takes away anything vertical or over-the-top.
The other kudos go to the gaming that nearly hit home up-front. The IDL-EDGE action did enough to break free and force Stafford to hit Williams on the delayed release. To be fair, the third-and-25 situation allowed the defense to put in an elaborate up-front game that should hit home.
Again, however, something vertical was not the priority in this specific situation. And therefore, an elaborate game (stunt) would not have been something I’d be too keen on doing here.
In any event, the Jets play it soft with a stunt, and Stafford hits Williams on the semi-delayed release to the left flat. Despite the questionable strategy, Quincy Williams does a good job of keying in on his responsibility.
Quincy maintains a tremendous inside-out pursuit angle from the jump and finds himself in a solid spot at the point of contact. He also uses the sideline to his advantage, which every defender is taught to do at a young age.
Unfortunately, No. 56 makes a critical error, which perfectly features the Jets defense’s main issue all season: a lack of selflessness.
While, admittedly, this isn’t the best example of it (see the Arizona Cardinals debacle), Jets defenders haven’t played for the teammate next to them all year. Hero ball consistently takes over for doing one’s job correctly—so the guy next to you has an easier go of it, and the unit, as a whole, is healthier.
Quincy takes the right angle and breaks down while under control, but he does not keep his feet, which is his most major sin.
Think about what the coverage is. In quarters, the third-level run support won’t be rallying anytime soon. So, the first-to-flat coverage defender is on a bit of an island in these situations.
Quincy did everything correctly other than keeping his feet. He dove, tried to make the tackle himself, and gave up extra yardage that turned out to be incredibly precious, leading to a much easier field goal for Karty.
Had Quincy broken down, wrapped, gotten his head across (left shoulder pad into sternum), and kept his feet, perhaps he would have stonewalled him and/or provided enough time for the troops to rally.
The right call and mindset
Treating it as a third-and-5 or so would have been my mindset. Get in the face of the receivers, keep a solo-high safety if need be, and show the potential for extra heat at the line of scrimmage.
Rushing the quarterback’s internal clock provides the best odds of forcing a mistake. Sending more than four is another option that could have been used.
Either way, the goal of this situation, as a defensive play-caller, would have been to dare Stafford to try to beat my defense over the top. Period.
It’s a situation where you should trust your talented cornerbacks. I get it: Nacua and Cooper Kupp are both studs and that most likely played into the equation here. Yet, a field goal given up is akin to near-death.
It would have been the perfect time to actually send six players at Stafford while playing big-boy press on the outside—especially considering how the day went and what the DNA of this Jets defense actually is (conservative by nature).
They never (or rarely) bring extra heat. Therefore, the offense naturally goes into each play with a built-in advantage.
Calling outside soft/squat with outside leverage and over-the-top feel, staggered man-to-man on the slot with a single-high safety who creeps weak-side while keying the running back, while also plugging both A-gaps and sending at least one (while dropping the other into a mid or hook zone, working in conjunction with the safties’ zone areas—which are secondary after primary read via man coverage), gives the New York Jets much more of a fighting chance to make a play happen, and ultimately swing the game in shocking fashion.
Unfortunately, Jeff Ulbrich stuck to the Robert Saleh program. They did what the Rams thought they would do (shoutout to Dennis Green).
Of course, it led to yet another brutal loss.
